Lifting Weights
by Mizvoy
Summary: When the first reunion of Voyager's return comes around, Chakotay doesn't attend, making Kathryn Janeway very angry and leading to a dramatic, personal, and enlightening confrontation. JC Post Endgame


Disclaimer: Voyager, Chakotay, and Kathryn Janeway belong to Paramount. No infringement intended.  
  
Summary: When the first reunion of Voyager's return comes around, Chakotay doesn't attend, making Kathryn Janeway very angry and leading to a dramatic, personal, and enlightening confrontation. J/C (Post Endgame)  
  
Rating: PG-13 (for a few bad words)  
  
Lifting Weights  
  
by mizvoy  
  
Chakotay finished his third set of weights and sat up on the bench to towel off. He kneaded a slight twinge in his right bicep as he stood up and reconfigured the exercise system for his next set. He found that physical exertion helped him pass the lonely times between his flights back and forth between Hydra V and Starbase 250, and so he lifted weights, swam or ran (depending on the weather), and played velocity until he was tired enough to sleep. Even then, there were nights that seemed to be filled with ghosts and memories determined to keep him awake.  
  
His "home" on Hydra V was far from homey. The living room of the one- bedroom apartment was empty except for the weight system, an oversized recliner, a side table with a built in lamp, and a video panel in the middle of the wall. The eating area--an extension of a typical galley kitchen--held of a card table and a single folding chair. The bedroom contained only a mattress set on the floor and three boxes under the window for his clothes. It looked as though he was still awaiting the delivery of his household goods when, in fact, he'd lived there nine months.  
  
The video was tuned to the Federation news station, audio muted, the flashing pictures of current events largely ignored. Instead, he listened to upbeat music that blared from the speakers, encouraging an appropriate rhythm for his workout. He was just about to begin his last set of weights when he heard someone knocking on the front door.  
  
"Go away, Andy!" he said loudly in order to be heard over the music. The five-year-old next door was fascinated with his weight lifting machine and always seemed to bother him at the worst possible moment. "This isn't a good time."  
  
"Open the door, Chakotay," a familiar voice answered.  
  
Kathryn Janeway. He remembered the date and shook his head. The first Voyager reunion had ended just three days earlier, and yet here she was on Hydra V already. She must have hijacked a starship as soon as she'd left the party and taken the most direct course to Hydra V at maximum warp. He allowed himself a small smile, even though her quick arrival meant that he'd lost his bet with Tom and B'Elanna. He reminded himself that it was too early to gloat.  
  
"What do you want?" he challenged her, sounding gruff.  
  
He could almost see the smoke filtering under the door as her temper burned brighter. Her voice, though, remained deadly calm. "I want to talk to you, Chakotay."  
  
"Well, I don't want to talk to you." He reclined on the bench and began his leg set, the system creaking softly, rhythmically, as he straightened his legs. He wished he could see the look on her face at being summarily defied. She'd been a captain so many years that she'd forgotten that she couldn't always be in charge.  
  
"Chakotay, it's freezing out here. Let me in."  
  
"Go back to your nice warm starship, Captain." He talked through his exercises, his voice obviously strained by the effort. "I have nothing to say to you."  
  
He imagined her standing on the open staircase shivering in the bitter winter breeze. There had been a significant snowstorm overnight, and then the temperatures had plunged below freezing. If she'd beamed to the standard location for his apartment complex, she'd just walked three blocks to his building in nearly arctic weather. But, she was angry, even though her voice was almost normal, and when she was angry she never checked the weather before beaming down to a planet, relying, instead, on the miraculous all-weather Starfleet uniform to provide the necessary protection from the elements.  
  
"I could have the Racine beam me into your apartment, you know."  
  
He thought, so she managed to get command of the Racine. "That would be tantamount to breaking and entering," he replied. He finished the first part of his set, stopping to reconfigure the bench, turning down the audio in the process. "How embarrassing would that be? Can't you see the next Fednews update? 'Breaking News: Captain Kathryn Janeway Arrested for Illegal Entry.'"  
  
"You wouldn't dare."  
  
"Try me." He was lying on his back again, ready to begin a series of thrusts.  
  
"I'll have Racine beam both of us up, how would that be?"  
  
"You'd kidnap me?" He relaxed, allowing the weights to hold his legs flexed over his abdomen. She would have enough nerve to beam him onto her ship, maybe even into the brig. He sat up, reaching for his towel as she pounded on the door with her fist. When the racket stopped, he said, "It isn't locked."  
  
She stepped into the room looking positively blue with cold, her hands tucked under her arms, her shoulders hunched. He grinned when he saw her avert her eyes from his nearly naked body--all he was wearing was loose nylon gym shorts and tennis shoes--and was gratified to see a blush crawling up her neck. Maybe she wasn't immune to him after all. "Forget your coat?"  
  
She slammed the door and then hugged herself in spite of the warm room. "I didn't think I'd be standing outside your door for such a long time."  
  
"Or you didn't check the weather before you beamed down. Which?" He watched her fume as he reached for his t-shirt and pulled it on.  
  
"Listen, mister, I'm in no mood for your insolence."  
  
"Then go away." As if that would ever happen, he thought. "I'm not keeping you."  
  
She looked around the bare apartment, her eyes wide with surprise at the sheer austerity of the room. "I love what you've done with the place."  
  
"I don't have the luxury of a Starfleet salary or furnished officer quarters." He picked up his water bottle and took a long pull. "And I don't plan to be here long, anyway."  
  
"You weren't at the reunion." As usual, she went straight for the jugular.  
  
"I was a gentleman. I sent my regrets." He stood up and began to put the weight system away. He'd lost twenty pounds and built up his body since the last time she'd seen him, and he knew he looked better than he had in years. He noticed that she was studying him closely as he worked. Good, he thought, take a good look. "It was your party any way."  
  
"It was our party, Chakotay. It was our crew. Our ship."  
  
"If you say so, Captain." He refused to use her name, even though he knew it would only make her angrier to use her rank. She wanted this to be a personal conversation, and he wanted her to stay angry with him.  
  
She took a deep breath, barely managing to keep from lashing out at him. "Because of your absence, only a few of the former Maquis came."  
  
"And you were embarrassed by that, weren't you? Your adoring public wondered where those criminals were that you taught to heel? Haven't all the news reporters commented on the way you miraculously tamed the Maquis rebels and had them eating from your hand? How dare them not show up."  
  
Her eyes flashed with resentment. "I always give you credit for blending the crews, and you know it." He thought she might actually exhibit a vulnerable emotion, But she quickly recovered, shaking her head and pursing her lips. "Embarrassed isn't the right word. I was miserable. Disappointed. It wasn't really a reunion with just the Starfleet people there." She walked to the sliding glass door and looked out at the bleak winter landscape. "I missed them."  
  
He said nothing for a moment, and then pushed the unit against the wall with a muffled thud. "Well, since you're here, you might as well have a seat. I'll get you some coffee."  
  
He stepped into his tiny kitchen and watched as she looked around the empty room and finally perched on the edge of the recliner. He took a steaming mug of coffee from the replicator and picked up the folding chair as he passed by the card table. She took the mug gratefully, cradling the hot ceramic in her cold hands while he sat down facing the back of the folding chair, not quite in front of her. He would never tire of watching Kathryn Janeway drink coffee when she was cold and stressed. It was like watching a religious ritual, always the same, yet never boring because of the emotions seen on the worshipper's face.  
  
After a long moment enjoying the warm coffee, she looked at him over the brim of the cup, and then raised her head. Here it comes, he thought.  
  
"Is this display of independence about Seven of Nine?"  
  
He laughed. "'Display of independence'?"  
  
"I'm trying to understand you, Chakotay. I'm thinking that perhaps the prospect of seeing her at the reunion was enough to prevent you from coming."  
  
"Seven of Nine?" He crossed his arms on the chair's back. Every attempt he'd made to find out what the admiral had told her about his relationship with the former Borg drone had always met with cold silence. Temporal prime directive, she always said, yet she seemed unable to start these sessions without referring to their brief liaison. "That relationship never got off the ground and you know it."  
  
She frowned. "Unhappy love affairs can make anyone irresponsible."  
  
"Captain, there was no love affair, happy or unhappy." He worked hard to keep his voice calm. "And now I'm irresponsible? I thought I was independent."  
  
"You were Voyager's first officer, Chakotay. Attending the reunion is part of your responsibility to the crew."  
  
In spite of his determination to remain calm, her words made him so angry that he had to move. He stood up and began to pace. "I beg to differ. While we were on the ship, I did the best I could to support you and the crew. I worked hard and I put everything and everybody ahead of my own happiness." He stopped and faced her. "But, I'm no longer the first officer, Captain. I'm not even in Starfleet. Obligated to attend? Screw it."  
  
Kathryn was just as angry. "This isn't about Starfleet, and you know it! It's about the people. B'Elanna and Tom were there with little Miral. Harry Kim. Samantha and Naomi Wildman. The doctor. I could name dozens of people who were hoping to see you." She put her mug on the table beside her and then gripped her hands in her lap. "Naomi made you a sand painting of an eagle and was in tears when you . . . ." She stopped, closing her eyes. "We were a family out there, and you let them down."  
  
"I let them down?" His voice was quiet, his body tense as he turned to her. "You act as if the party couldn't start without me, when everyone knows that you always got top billing." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, I don't have a starship at my disposal. Did it occur to you that I might not have had the credits to afford a trip to earth?"  
  
She was momentarily stunned. She was so used to having starships at her beck and call that the thought of having to pay for transportation had never occurred to her. "I could have made arrangements for you, if that was the problem."  
  
"It wasn't." He almost laughed to see the scowl that crossed her face. "But it probably was for some of the Maquis." He stopped in front of the vid screen and absently changed it to a screensaver--memorable scenes of the Federation, starting with the Vulcan deserts. "We didn't receive a backlog of lost pay, you know. And not everyone has my wonderful job of piloting a taxi between Hydra V and Starbase 250."  
  
"A civilian transport is hardly a taxi."  
  
"You're right. A bus, then." He watched her slowly burn. She'd gotten him the position, calling in several favors in the process, and he knew she wouldn't react well to his disparaging description of the work.  
  
Her voice was deadly quiet when she said, "After your disgraceful performance following Voyager's debriefings, you're lucky to be working anywhere in the Federation."  
  
"I always thought a person had to be convicted of a crime before they could be paroled, Captain. I thought the process was arraignment, trial, conviction, sentencing, and then parole. Silly me."  
  
"That the Federation failed to hear your case is under appeal, although your diatribe didn't help the process."  
  
"But doing it made me feel so much better."  
  
Her fury was growing by leaps and bounds. "I told you . . . I told all of the Maquis that I wouldn't stop fighting that decision until justice was done." She pinched the bridge of her nose, visibly trying to quell her anger. "Do you doubt me?"  
  
"Do I doubt that you won't quit? No. Do I doubt that you'll be successful? Yes." She glared at him. "I've always trusted you, Captain, it was Starfleet that I had issues with. And the Federation."  
  
"So your absence was a political statement?"  
  
"Are we back to why I didn't come to the reunion?" He sighed. "I just didn't come, that's all. Does there have to be a reason? Could it be that I simply didn't make the trip?"  
  
"No, Chakotay, it couldn't." She grew thoughtful, and he saw, for the first time, the flicker of fatigue in her eyes. "I'd hoped you'd have a legitimate reason for hurting the people who care for you so much."  
  
"Maybe my reason is personal, too personal to share with you?" He laughed as a strange look crossed her face. "You're thinking of Seven again, aren't you? Do you really think she has enough influence on me to keep me from attending the reunion?" He let that thought sink in. "Only one person has that much of an impact on me, Captain. You."  
  
"Me?" Her eyes were wide with surprise. "I admit that we've had our share of disagreements over the years, but we've always managed to find common ground. We've stayed friends."  
  
He sat down again, folding his arms on the back of the chair and resting his chin on them. "We're not friends any more, as far as I'm concerned."  
  
She slumped back into the recliner as if he'd pushed her, and this time the exhaustion was written all over her face. "What are you saying?" she whispered. "What have I done to you? Or failed to do?"  
  
"There isn't any one thing I can point to. But then it's also everything you've done. I just can't be your friend any more. Period."  
  
"Am I that unpleasant a person?" She seemed to be almost in tears.  
  
He was nearly overcome with a wave of regret over her pain, but he knew he had to stay the course. He'd spent nine months preparing for this moment, and he had to have the fortitude to see it through. "Actually, you're a very pleasant person. You're an ideal Starfleet officer, and I think you're the best friend I've ever had."  
  
She closed her eyes, and he could sense her despair in the way she seemed to shrink into the cushions. "I don't understand."  
  
"I refuse to play the game any more, Captain. You know how I feel. I know how you feel. Let's leave it at that."  
  
"But I don't know how you feel!" She was suddenly energized, launching out of the chair as her temper reasserted itself. "You refuse to attend the reunion because you can't be my friend. And then you say I'm the best friend you've ever had." She turned to face him, her hands on her hips. "You aren't making sense."  
  
"Let's turn the tables, then. Why are you here? Why do you give a damn about whether I came to the reunion or not? And don't give me the 'Naomi cried' excuse again."  
  
"Why am I here?" she repeated, blinking her eyes in confusion.  
  
"You're obviously exhausted. You must have beamed directly to the Racine from the last moment of the reunion and set course for Hydra V at maximum warp." The look on her face told him he'd guessed right. "Why bring a Starfleet ship and 200 members of your crew all this way for a personal confrontation? It's too late for me to come to the reunion anyway."  
  
She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "I came because I'm angry with you."  
  
"Oh, no, you don't. Too easy. You could have contacted me via subspace and given me a piece of your mind. You could have ignored me, making me think you didn't care whether I was there or not. But, no. You wanted to see me face-to-face. Why?"  
  
There were tears in her eyes as she looked away, moving back to the sliding glass door. "Everyone was surprised and missed you. They looked to me, and I had nothing to say to explain your absence." Her hands wiped at her eyes. "And I was hurt. I took your absence as a personal rebuff."  
  
"Good. That's exactly what it was meant to be."  
  
She faced him, so furious he thought she might launch herself at him and scratch his eyes out. "You bastard." She was literally trembling with rage as she started past him for the door. "To hell with you, Chakotay."  
  
He grabbed her arm as she passed by him, pulling her close, lifting her slightly until the toes of her boots barely touched the floor. "It's time we cleared the air once and for all."  
  
"Let me go." In spite of her command tone, he didn't move, and she struggled a moment before she simply gave up. This close, he could clearly see the fatigue around her eyes. He wondered if she'd been crying. "Chakotay, you're hurting me."  
  
He loosened his grip enough to let her feet touch the floor, but kept her close, his hand on her upper arm. His voice was soft as he used her given name for the first time. "Kathryn, we're hurting each other. From where we were on Voyager, how did we come to this?"  
  
"I don't know." She pulled her arm from his hand and rubbed it where he had gripped her too tightly. "I just know it was a mistake to come here and expect to have a civilized conversation with you."  
  
"Fine. Leave. But first, answer my question. Why did you come to Hydra V?"  
  
"Maybe I wanted to hurt you back. Everyone seemed to think I had something to do with your absence, as if I'd done something to make you stay away." She looked down at her hands a moment, thinking. "Or maybe I wanted to see you so much that I decided to take matters into my own hands."  
  
"Don't tell me you missed me, too."  
  
"Why wouldn't I miss you? Weren't we together every day for seven years? Didn't we go through hell and back getting Voyager home? I wanted desperately to see you at the reunion. I feel like I have a hole in my life just your size and shape, a hole only you can fill."  
  
"I feel the same way about you, Captain. It's just that I can't be your friend any more. I can't and I won't. I'd rather never see you again than to accept that."  
  
"I can't let you walk out of my life, Chakotay."  
  
He gave her a wistful smile. "But can't you see that I already have? When was the last time we talked via subspace? Three months ago? When was the last time we were together? Six months before that? You've been too busy to notice, too wrapped up in your career to notice that I'm already gone."  
  
Her eyes flashed with fury. "But I have noticed! Haven't you heard anything I've said? I miss you. You're the single most important person in my life. That's why I'm here, damn it. I'm here because I find myself talking to you in the shower or when I'm eating alone or when I take the dog for a walk. I'm here because every time I see a tall man with dark hair, I hope it's you. I'm here because I thought I would see you at last at the reunion. I'm here because I love you!"  
  
Except for the soft background music, the room was silent as they stared at each other. Kathryn seemed to deflate, changing before his eyes from the furious, freezing cold captain who had stormed into his apartment into a vulnerable, warm, and very beautiful woman. He stared at her in fascination, as if she were a tightly closed bud opening into a full-blown rose in a matter of seconds. She whispered the words again, just as surprised as Chakotay was at her admission, "I . . . I love you."  
  
He reached up and scrubbed his face, hoping to hide, for now, the thrill of hope that gripped his heart. "You're saying that because you're angry."  
  
"I'm saying it because I mean it. I ignored my feelings for years, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. You know what the Starfleet guidance is for commanders who feel attracted to their subordinates--make them into family. I had to do that, Chakotay. You know I did."  
  
He snorted. "So I'm the brother you never had."  
  
"You were like a member of my family, someone I cared about too much. And in any event, a friendship is more durable than a romance, especially when it involves a commanding officer." She stood there, waiting for his reply. "Say something."  
  
"I understand why the barriers existed on Voyager. I didn't like them, but we had no choice. The problem is that we aren't on Voyager any more, and we haven't been for a year. Now that we're home, I don't want to be your friend, and I refuse to be your brother."  
  
She bit her lip, tears filling her eyes again. "Then avoid me. I deserve it. But don't turn your back on everyone else from the ship while you're hurting me."  
  
He sighed. "They'll have to handle it, Kathryn. I refuse to structure my life around their needs any more. And if that's a problem for them, so be it."  
  
She sat down on the recliner so she could look him in the eye. "All right, I can understand that. I'm just as tired as you are at putting the crew first. But you claim that you did this deliberately to hurt me." She looked heartbroken, and Chakotay resisted the urge to put his arms around her. "Why does hurting me make you happy?"  
  
"It doesn't make me happy to hurt you, but I had to do something to get your attention. I'd hoped you'd come to Hydra V when I didn't show up at the reunion. I just didn't think you'd come so quickly."  
  
She narrowed her eyes. "Well, here I am. And you have my undivided attention."  
  
He relaxed, realizing that the moment he'd hoped for had finally arrived. She was here, alone with him, ready to listen. He just hoped he could say what was in his heart.  
  
"Kathryn, I can't limit our relationship the way we did on Voyager. I can't smile and be your friend, or your brother, only to go home alone, wishing . . . dreaming of going home with you." He crossed his arms on the back of the chair and buried his face in them. "I'd rather never see you again than to have to pretend for one more day that I don't love you."  
  
For a long moment, Kathryn didn't move. The music played softly, and Chakotay was sure she could hear his heart pounding as he waited. Then she reached out and touched his hair. "I didn't think you loved me any more."  
  
"Let me guess," came the muffled reply. "You thought that because I was dating Seven."  
  
"In the admiral's timeline . . . ," she hesitated a moment, and then plunged on. "In the admiral's timeline, you married Seven of Nine. And when I realized that you'd already started seeing her . . ."  
  
He looked up, his eyes wide with shock as he heard, for the first time, the secret his captain had kept from him. "You assumed that I had already moved on."  
  
"I guess I did. And if so, I didn't want to hurt you or Seven by charging in where I wasn't wanted." She rested her hand on his arm. "It had been years since either of us had spoken about our feelings. I thought you'd gotten past it. God knows I've done enough to make you stop loving me."  
  
"Kathryn," he said, putting his hand over hers. "I can guarantee that the Chakotay from the admiral's timeline never stopped loving her, even if he did marry Seven of Nine. He moved on because he had no choice. But we're no longer captain and first officer. And I was hoping . . . ."  
  
"You were hoping that now you would have a choice?"  
  
"I think that's up to you." He watched her consider his question, her blue eyes studying his face. "Kathryn, you're on the fast track to becoming a Starfleet admiral. It's occurred to me that you might be ashamed to be involved with a convicted criminal. It might be beneath your honor to consort with a man who 'drives a bus' for a living."  
  
She smiled and shook her head. "Are you kidding? I have the deepest respect for you. I think of you as a freedom fighter, Chakotay, a person willing to sacrifice everything for your beliefs. I promise you the conviction will disappear, if I have to make a deal with the devil to make it happen. And I'm the one who got this job for you in the first place, remember?" She took his hand in hers. "Besides, I've already admitted that I love you, haven't I?"  
  
Tears filled his eyes. "I love you, too, Kathryn. The last nine months have been the unhappiest of my life. I've missed talking to you every day and being part of your life. I've missed having a meaningful, challenging job. I've missed living somewhere closer our crew." He stood up, pulling her into an embrace, burying his face in her hair as she slipped her arms around his waist. "I couldn't come to the reunion with this grief in my heart. I knew we couldn't talk this out when the crew and half of the Starfleet brass would be watching us."  
  
"No." She chuckled, snuggling into his chest. "I guess not."  
  
He became aware of his lack of clothing and need for a shower. "I'm afraid I smell like a goat."  
  
She ran her hands across the bulging muscles of his back with a groan of appreciation. "You've smelled better, but you feel like an Adonis. You take my breath away, Chakotay."  
  
He laughed and looked down into her eyes, slowly lowering his head for a gentle kiss. He glanced around the room. "Sure wish I'd bought a sofa."  
  
"We could share the recliner."  
  
"Good idea." He led her to the large overstuffed chair, where he sat down and pulled her onto his lap.  
  
"Our lives are such a mess," she said, relaxing against him and suddenly fighting exhaustion. The adrenaline high she'd been operating on the last few days had evaporated, leaving her limp and sleepy. She repressed a yawn. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"For too many years, we put our ship and crew first. I think it's time for us to change those parameters." He reached down and picked up a cotton throw from the floor, arranging it over them with his free arm as he brought up the foot rest. "But right now, we need to relax and enjoy this chance to be together."  
  
"You're right. We need time." He could feel her relaxing slowly, the warmth of their shared heat pulling her toward sleep. "I have several weeks of leave I should take. You need to quit your job and look for a better one. What do you say we take the next month or so to focus on each other?"  
  
"Kathryn, I'm planning on spending a lifetime focusing on you."  
  
She kissed him, and he relished the warm feelings she created within him. "I should be angry with you for refusing to come to the reunion and for treating me with such callous disregard. What if I hadn't come here to chew you out?"  
  
"I was pretty sure you'd come."  
  
"Oh, you were, were you?"  
  
"If you hadn't, I would've thought of some other way to get through to you." He grinned at her. "You didn't think I'd give you up without a fight, did you?"  
  
"I'm a little upset that you know me so well."  
  
"Kathryn, after serving with your hot Irish temper for seven years, I have a good idea of how you'll react to most situations."  
  
Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'm going to have to think of ways to surprise you."  
  
He kissed her nose and then tucked her under his shoulder, content to simply hold her and hear her voice as she got some rest. "Frankly, I'm looking forward to that. And other things."  
  
She laughed, giving him a playful punch in the chest. "From now on, let's be honest and open about our feelings. No more game playing and no more artificially imposed barriers."  
  
"Whatever you say, Kathryn." He shifted slightly, bringing them into a full-body contact that sent an electric shock through his body. He found himself looking into blue eyes that were shining with love, but also drooping with fatigue. "I feel like the weight of the universe was just lifted from my shoulders."  
  
"So do I. Or at least the weight of Voyager." She yawned. "I can't believe how tired I am all of a sudden. I should have activities in mind other than just sleeping next to you, yet I'm warm and relaxed and comfortable, and you feel so good."  
  
"When was the last time you got a full night's sleep?"  
  
"I don't remember." She shrugged. "Probably before the reunion."  
  
"You've been operating on adrenaline and anger for days." He laughed as she toed off her boots and let them fall to the floor with a thud.  
  
"That's probably part of it."  
  
"Kathryn, I wish you knew how many times I wanted to hold you down for some much-needed rest on Voyager. Now that I have you in my grasp, don't expect me to let go."  
  
"Try to get rid of me." She yawned again, kissed him, and closed her eyes as she settled in for a nap. "At the reunion, I felt as though everything was coming to a miserable conclusion. Voyager is being taken apart piece by piece. The crew has been scattered from here to the edge of the Federation. You and the Maquis weren't there. I was afraid that our great adventure had come to a lonely and gloomy end." She was quiet a moment. "I was afraid I'd lost you, Chakotay."  
  
"Maybe this is just the end of the beginning?"  
  
He could feel her smile against his chest. "I like that. The end of the beginning. The end of the limitations Voyager and the Delta Quadrant put on our relationship. And the beginning of whatever we want our relationship to be."  
  
"Let's just hope it isn't the beginning of the end."  
  
"It won't be, Chakotay. For the first time in eight years, I have something to look forward to when I wake up." She lifted her head. "I do have something to look forward to, don't I?"  
  
He gave her a dimpled grin. "You'd better believe it."  
  
"Good." She laid her head on his chest with a sigh of contentment.  
  
Chakotay held her as she grew still, her breathing deep and regular, her small body tightly curled against his own. The music played softly, like a lullaby, and before he dozed off, a view of green and rolling farmland filled the view screen, its fields and winding roads reminding him of his brief visit to Kathryn's home in Indiana.  
  
He accepted that as a sign of good luck and fell asleep a happy man.  
  
The End 


End file.
